Now, Novo Nordisk is launching an ad campaign that reunites actors Justin Long and John Hodgman, as it looks to expand the market for its blockbuster diabetes drug ahead of worldwide patent expiration.
The campaign is based on Apple’s iconic commercials from the mid-2000s, which featured Long and Hodgman as anthropomorphic versions of a relaxed Mac and a stuffy PC, respectively.
This time, Long plays Ozempic, while Hodgman plays rival GLP-1 diabetes drugs. The ads take a very different approach from the traditional Big Pharma ads that audiences are accustomed to seeing.
In the first, the two face off in a simple game that informs the audience that Ozempic is the only GLP-1 drug for diabetes approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce the risk of worsening of chronic kidney disease. Long concludes the ad by calmly reading the drug’s extensive safety information.
Viewers will start seeing ads across digital channels, including social media and video streaming services, starting today.
Ozempic is a weekly injected medication used to help control blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Following its launch, the drug also became widely known for its weight loss effects, leading Novo Nordisk to introduce a separate brand Vegovy specifically approved for weight loss.
It’s worth noting that the new campaign is clearly focused on Ozempic, not Wegovi.
The growing popularity of Ozempic and Wegovi helped Novo Nordisk become the world’s 12th most valuable company by market capitalization in March 2024. But a shortage, which opened the door to cheaper, off-brand alternatives, along with increasing competition from Eli Lilly, the maker of rival diabetes drug Monjaro, sent Novo Nordisk shares tumbling last year.
Amid the recession, longtime CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen announced in May that he would be leaving the company. Today, Novo Nordisk has slipped to about 55th globally by market cap, while Eli Lilly remains on top at 13th.
The new advertising campaign aims to expand the market for Ozempic as key patents begin to expire, opening up even more competition. While the main US patent for semaglutide, the active ingredient behind Ozempic, will not expire until the next decade, patent protection in China and Canada is already set to expire this year.
“Because we have lost exclusivity in many markets this year, we will get competition. And when you have a lot of market share, competition will take away some of that share. We need to focus on market expansion,” Novo Nordisk CEO Mazzar Mike Doustdar said at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference last week, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Novo Nordisk is betting that expansion could come from emphasizing Ozempic’s other FDA-approved uses, including its cardiovascular health benefits.
But it remains to be seen whether such a campaign can really move the needle in a market where patients often don’t get a say, and have to take whatever drugs their doctor prescribes and their insurance is willing to pay.
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